Analog circuit design has been relatively abandoned in comparison to digital design. Sure, its more complex to get working, and sometimes finicky in terms of noise, but it excels in other areas, like filtering and other simpler designs. In the simple cases, like above, its wonderful. When i first contemplated this idea, i was thinking, ‘well i would have to get a 555, or an attiny…’, then i realized that was silly and a waste of good hardware. The general idea here is simplicity can also be elegant. Oh, you also get that nice analog fade as it shuts off. :)

The project uses just 4 components – and you won’t even need a USB programmer/etc. Assembly and functionality detailed over on Dane’s site.